With no long-term fix in sight for the crumbling Highway 6, county leaders declared an emergency Tuesday morning, asking the state to address the issues plaguing the only direct link between Tillamook and the Portland Metro area.
After a downhill landslide and sunken grade took out an entire lane near milepost 35, resulting in a closure on Dec. 19, 2025, only one lane remains open. The damage has required flagged traffic and pilot cars 24/7, resulting in delays and even causing some drivers to cancel travel plans over fears of the highway's safety.
A new crack forming in the only open lane forced another closure on Jan. 4, for much of the day before the Wilson River Highway reopened to one lane of traffic again, this time on the highway shoulder.
Now, by declaring an emergency, the Washington County Board of Commissioners has asked that the Oregon Legislature and Governor Tina Kotek step in to seek federal and state funding to apply a long-term fix to the failing highway and address a slew of issues identified in a 2023 safety study the legislature required the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to conduct.
The declaration was adopted unanimously.
"It was important that we as Washington County join in with Tillamook County in declaring an emergency, which would enable us to not only apply for federal funds, but certainly enhance priority, hopefully, with ODOT and finding some funding to put a more long-term fix to Highway 6," said Washington County Commissioner Jerry Willey.
Photos courtesy Pihl Excavating from January 5, 2026, used with permission
The Washington County portions of Highway 6 lie entirely within District 4, the district Willey represents.
Willey described the highway as the number one priority of the North West Area Commission on Transportation, a multijurisdictional board composed of local elected officials in Clatsop, Tillamook, Columbia and rural western Washington counties.
The county's emergency declaration highlighted "Safety Package F," an option in the safety study estimated to cost between $38 million to $49.4 million in 2023 dollars that would address 18 unstable slopes the state identified as a priority. Of those 18 slopes, 14 are located between mileposts 31 and 35.
"ODOT is aware of Washington County’s emergency declaration related to Highway 6," said ODOT spokesperson Mindy McCartt in an email. "The declaration highlights the significant impacts this corridor has on the county and the surrounding communities. ODOT continues to focus on maintaining safe travel through the area while assessing longer-term needs and potential solutions."
In an update to community members and local officials in Tillamook County, Bill Jablonski, ODOT's NWACT representative, described the situation.
After the first closure due to the winter storms in the area, Jablonski said they were keeping an eye on the only open lane.
"We were frantically watching that eastbound lane and we had noticed several cracks beginning to form," he said.
He said the highway was closed while traffic was shifted over to the shoulder to allow for repairs to be made.
"Crews temporarily closed the highway and constructed a temporary lane so traffic could continue moving through the area," McCartt said.
"I can report that the contractor that we have hired, [Pihl Excavating], is working six days a week, he's using 25 trucks to haul in tons of rock material," Jablonski said.
"We're very happy to be selected for this project," said Pihl Excavating owner Matt Pihl in a phone call.
It could be weeks or longer before both lanes are open.
"Based on work completed so far, crews estimate reopening both lanes by the first week of February, weather and site conditions permitting. This is an estimate and could change if conditions at the site shift," McCartt said.
"Crews are removing material beneath the roadway to ensure a more stable foundation for new pavement and rebuilding the road base using large rocks and crushed rock placed and compacted in layers," McCartt said. "Additional work includes rock inlay, guardrail installation, paving, and striping," she added.
The estimated cost of the emergency repairs is $1.5 million, according to ODOT.
Jablonski said yards of what he described as organic material or sawdust had to first be removed from the site.
"This is after they have excavated many, many yards of this lightweight fill, organic matter, or sawdust I think they call it from 1996," he noted.
During the flood of 1996, nearly 10,000 landslides struck Oregon, including on Highway 6, according to USGS data.
Jablonski said the material was placed there in an attempt to slow the long-term movement of the slide area.
"That was an ingenious idea back then, is "how can we lessen the weight on that slide area," which goes down to pretty much the riverbed, so it's a very deep slide," he added.
Jablonski said sawdust material was placed into water or airproof bags and then the road built on top of them. But over time, the materials began to degrade.
"That was a great idea in '96, but over time, that bag and that material has been exposed to the air, that's a lot of water that drains through that area," he said. "Over time, that exposed organic material just decomposed and then created that weight with the asphalt that we've put on over the years, just really sunk that down and helped maybe exaggerate that sinking, that grade sinking that we had from last week," he said.
Local leaders react
State Sen. Suzanne Weber said she was working with ODOT to ensure signage was placed on the Tillamook County side so that motorists wouldn't drive 35 miles into the coast range only to find a dead end.
"People called me, they had missed airline flights because they got up to milepost 35, discovered it was closed, and then had to make their way to Portland through Seaside or McMinnville," she said.
She thanked Tillamook County for getting signage up to warn motorists that the state highway had closed.
State Rep. Darcy Edwards, who represents House District 31, which includes the entirety of Washington County's portion of Highway 6 also weighed in.
"I support Washington County’s decision to declare a state of emergency for Highway 6," Edwards said.
She described the situation as urgent, and noted the route is vital to communities, commerce, and the coast.
"Too often, essential maintenance on rural highways is deferred while limited dollars go elsewhere," Edwards said in an email. "We can address these needs within ODOT’s existing budget, without raising new taxes or fees, by reprioritizing funding to maintain and stabilize critical corridors."
Edwards said she looked forward to working with local partners and her legislative colleagues to address the highway's long term and immediate needs.
Forest Grove's State Rep. Susan McLain said the recent events have made the legislature's need for additional work on transportation more apparent.
McLain is the co-chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation.
“December and early January weather emergencies have hopefully focused us on the need to have a stable, well-funded, statewide, multimodal transportation system.," she said in an email to this newspaper.
"Highway 6, Highway 30, and Highway 101 in our Northern Coast and West Washington County area are extremely important to our economy and safety, and to ensuring that communities are not isolated by weather or emergency events," she added.
McLain noted the safety study authorized under House Bill 4053 during the 2022 legislative session.
"We know there is major work that must be done, and recent weather events have made that even more apparent," she said.
For current traffic and closure information on Highway 6, visit tripcheck.com.
